Saturday, December 4, 2010

You Know its Christmastime in Port-Au-Prince When

Some of the water trucks that play a synthesized version of the Titanic theme song now play a synthesized medley of Jingle Bells, We Wish you a Merry Christmas and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

It's apparently cold enough for used-clothing vendors on the street to replace tank-tops with jackets. (To be fair, I have worn a cardigan a few times recently).*

There is a GIANT inflatable Santa Claus on the roof of the Total station in Petionville.**

You can buy Christmas trees (read: tree branches painted white and secured into milk powder cans) on the side of Avenue John Brown.***

The larger supermarkets have set up real fake Christmas trees.

Crime rates go up, especially pickpocketing and petty theft.

Colored lights are everywhere, including our porch as supplied by our landlord.****

The fancy shops in Petionville have Christmas-themed window displays.

The expats with real salaries are preparing to leave for the holidays.*****

Intricate luminaries made with colored paper are for sale on Bourdon. Vendors light them up at night and the street looks magical.

* This year, we're eying those jackets. We've acclimated! Or maybe it's because we've moved 3.5 miles up the hill.
** Not yet. But, there are GIANT inflatable Santa Clauses to be found elsewhere. Like this one at the Coconut Villa Hotel:

*** I bought one. Ben got a huge kick out of watching me "prune" it.

**** Port-au-Prince has now entered the era of white lights.
***** This doesn't bother me anymore. I'm not sure why it ever did.

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Blessings on your second Sunday in Advent! Great tree...do you remember the bare branches we decorated rather than cut a live tree? but we never thought to paint them white! Another great post...thanks so much! love you lots! M & D

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“When I told my friends that I was going to Haiti they raised their eyebrows. “Haiti,” they said. “But that’s the place where they kill their presidents and eat their babies. You’d better buy yourself a large-sized gun.”

- Alec Waugh, The Sugar Islands

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Ben is a freelance photographer. Alexis works with Other Worlds in supporting grassroots movements towards economic, social and gender justice, prior to which she did advocacy work for the Mennonite Central Committee. We've lived in Haiti since 2008.

This our personal blog and posts do not necessarily reflect the views of our employers. Making a frequent appearance is Luna, our cat.